Land grading machine



April 10, 1956 L. B. LINDBECK LAND GRADING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Dec. 3, 1952 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS April 10, 1956 L. B. LINDBECK2,741,043

LAND GRADING MACHINE Filed Dec. 3, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent LAND GRADING MACHINE Laurel B. Lindbeck, LasCruces, N. Mex. Application December 3, 1952, Serial No. 323,875

Claims. (Cl. 37-169) The invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in a land grading machine and more particularly to a landgrading machine adapted to be drawn by a tractor.

An object of the invention is to provide a grading machine wherein themain grading blade is positioned during land moving operations by aspring normally under compression which spring is further compressed orexpanded by variations in the draft on the grader blade.

A further object of the invention is to provide a grading machine of theabove type with an adjustable lever mechanism disposed between thecompression spring and the grading blade which lever mechanism may beadjusted to adapt the grading machine for use with tractors of widelydifferent power output.

Another object of the invention is to provide a grading machine of theabove type with a stop for limiting the expansion of the compressionspring and a hydraulically operated lifting mechanism for raising andlowering the grader blade relative to its supporting frame to facilitatetransportation of the machine.

A further object of the invention is to provide a grading machine of theabove type with a trailing leveler blade which is automatically raisedand lowered with the raising and lowering of the grader blade fortransportation purposes.

These and other objects will in part be obvious and will in part behereinafter more fully disclosed.

In the drawings, which show by way of illustration one embodiment of theinvention:

Figure l is a side view of the improved grading machine.

Figure 2 is a view showing the grader blade raised by contact with anobstruction so that it may pass over the same.

Figure 3 is a plan view with some of the parts, for controlling thetrailing leveling blade, removed.

Figure 4 is a view partly in section and partly in side elevation of thesupporting housing for the compression spring and the connection to theoperating lever which raises and lowers the'grading blade.

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the spring for forcing theleveling blade into contact with the ground being graded and alsoshowing the lifting link connection for raising said leveling blade fortransportation purposes.

The improved land grading machine includes a main frame structure havingside members 1 and 2 and extensions of the side members indicated at 3and 4 in the drawings. These extensions are bolted to the respectiveside members by bolts indicated at 5. The extensions 3 and 4 areconnected by a cross member 6. The side members 1 and 2, are connectedby a cross member 7. At the front end of the side members and at theinner side thereof are strengthening plates 8 and 9. There is a crossmember 10 extending from the plate 8 to the plate 9. There are alsoinclined members 11 and 12 which are connected to plates 8 and 9 andthese members 11 and 12 incline forwardly and meet at 13. There is astrengthening web 14" connected to the members 11 and 12. This makes upthe main frame structure.

Mounted between the main frame members 1 and 2 is the main grader whichconsists of a back portion 14 carrying at its lower end a grader blade15. There is an end plate 16 at one end of the back portion 14 and anend plate 17 at the other end thereof. These end plates extend the fullheight of the back plate and are normally parallel at their lower sideswith the ground and the grader blade projects below these end plates.The end plates serve to prevent the soil being graded from passingaround the grader blade and back portion 14. They also serve with theback portion to form a bucket for transporting the soil during theleveling operation. Mounted on the plate 8 is a bearing bracket 18 andmounted on the plate 9 is a bearing bracket 19. The shaft 20 isjournaled in these bearing brackets 18 and 19 and adjacent each end ofthe shaft are arms 21, 21 which are pivoted at their outer ends to theend plates 16 and 17 as indicated at 22. At each end of the back plate14 is a bracket 23. A link 24 is pivoted at 25 to the bracket 23. Thislink 24 is also pivoted at 26 to a bracket 27 on the side member 1.There is a similar link 24 at the other end of the back portion 14 whichis pivoted to a bracket 27 on the extension frame 4. The arms 21 and thelinks 24 support the grading bucket. When the shaft 20 is turned in acounter-clockwise direction the link will raise the bucket and in thisrising movement the bucket will be forced rearwardly and upwardly by theswinging of the links 24. In other words the end plates move bodily upand down and are substantially maintained parallel with the frame of thegrading machine at their lower edges.

Fixed to the shaft 20 intermediate the ends thereof is a lever 28. Thislever 28 has three holes 29, 30 and 31 therethrough. Mounted on theplate 14 is a bracket 32. Pivotally attached to this bracket is a lever33 having holes 34, 35 and 36. Connecting the lever 33 to the lever 28is a hydraulic mechanism including a cylinder 37, a piston rod 38provided with the usual piston head. The piston rod is pivoted at 39 tothe lever 38 and the cylinder is provided with a projecting lug which ispivoted at 40 to the lever 33. Fluid may be directed through either ofthe lines 41 for moving the piston head toward one head of the cylinderor the other. adapted to be attached to a tractor and these lines 41extend to a point on the tractor where they are accessible to theoperator of the tractor.

Rising from the frame members 11 and 12 at their meeting ends is abracket 42. Rigidly fixed to this bracket is a cylindrical housing 43.Located in the housing is a compression spring 44 which bears against anend cap 45 detachably connected to the housing 43. Also disposed withinthe housing and projecting therefrom is a sleeve 46. This sleeve has anabutment head 47 against which the inner end of the compression springengages. At the outer end of the sleeve 46 is a nut 48 which is weldedto the sleeve. There is a rod 49 threaded through the nut and extendinginto the sleeve. At the outer end of the rod 49 is a forked head 50adapted to be secured to the lever 33 by means of a pin extendingthrough a hole in the lever 33.

Fixed to the upper end of the bracket 42 is an arm 51 having a bent end52 which serves as a stop for limiting the movements of the lever 33 ina clockwise direction.

By turning the nut 48 the sleeve 46 will be moved along This leveler is'3 set position relative to the tube 53 by means of a pin connection 55.On the outer end of the telescoping tube portion 54 is a draftconnection 56 which is adapted to be attached to a tractor.

Mounted at the rear end of the frame extension 3 is a bearing bracket 57carrying a stub shaft 53 on which is mounted a ground wheel 59. There isa similar bracket 60 carried by the extension 4 and mounted insaid'bracket 60 is a stub shaft 61 on which a ground wheel 62 ismounted.

Extending rearwardly from the frame ex-Leusions and 4 is a plate 63.There is a similar plate 63 extending from the frame extension 4. Theseplates are welded to the extensions and are rigidly supported thereby.

Pivoted at 64 is an auxiliary frame member 65. There is a similarauxiliary frame member 66 pivoted at 67. There is a cross bar 68 joiningthe auxiliary frame members 65 and 66. There are also braces 69, 69connecting the side members of the auxiliary frame to the cross bar.Attached to this cross bar 63 is an auxiliary grading blade 70. Saidgrading blade is bolted to the cross bar 68. Said blade has a cuttingedge 71 at the lower side thereof and an angular extending smoothingblade 72. This blade may be detached from the auxiliary frame and turnedover so that the smoothing blade will contact with the soil. There areend plates '73 at each end of the cutting blade which prevents the soilfrom passing around the end of the blade.

Extending upwardly from the frame extension 3 is an L-shaped bracket 74.There is an L-shaped bracket 75 fixed to the auxiliary frame member 65.These two brackets 74 and 75 are connected by a rod 76. The rod 76passes through one of the flanges of the L-shaped bracket 74. It alsoextends through the flange of the other bracket 75 and has a bent end 77which extends through an opening in the other flange of the bracket 75.Mounted on the outer end of the rod 76 is a nut 78 which engages theouter face of the L-shaped bracket 74. There is a compression spring 79mounted on the rod 76 and bearing against the inner faces of theL-shaped brackets 74 and 75. This spring normally presses the auxiliaryframe in a clockwise direction and the movement of the auxiliary frameis limited by the nut 78. There are similar brackets 74 and 75 at theother side of the auxiliary frame which brackets are shown in section,and there is a similar rod and compression spring at the upper end ofthese brackets.

Rigidly attached to the link 24 in an arm 80. A rod 81 is connected tothe arm 80. The rod 81 extends through an opening 82 in one of the anglemembers of the L-shaped bracket 75. The rod is bent back on itself asindicated at 83 and passes through an opening 84 in the bracket.

The bucket may be raised and lowered by the hydraulic mechanism whenfluid is directed to the outer end of the cylinder 37 the lever 28 willbe swung in a counterclockwise direction and this will cause the arms 21to lift and move the bucket upward and rearwardly. As the bucket islifted and moved rearwardly the links 24 will lift the rear end of thebucket. In this manner the bucket can be raised relative to the frame sothat it is completely out of contact with the soil and this greatlyfacilitates transportation of the grading machine. At the same time thatthe links 24 move in a clockwise direction the arm 89 will pull on therods Bland cause the curved end of .the rods to contact with thebrackets 75 and swing the auxiliary frame on the pivots 64 and 67, thuslifting the leveling blade carried thereby. Through this means the maingrading blade and the auxiliary grading blade may be simultaneouslyraised or lowered as desired.

When the bucket is in its lowered position for operation in grading, thelever 33 is out of contact with the stop 52 so that the compressionspring holds the main grading blade in what might be said to be afloating position.

If the grading blade contacts a stone or other obstruction the spring 34will be further compressed and allow the blade to'have a backward upwardaction until it passes over the obstruction, as shown in Figure 2. Assoon as the obstruction is passed then the grading blade will return toits normal set position. If the soil is unusually loose so that thedraft on the grading blade decreases then the spring 4 will expand andcause the blade to move deeper into the soil.

It will be noted that the lever 28 has three holes for the attachment ofthe piston to the hydraulic mechanism. Likewise, the lever 33 has threeholes for attachment to the cylinder of the hydraulic mechanism. Asshown in the drawings the hydraulic mechanism connects the middle holesin said levers. This is what might be called the average position and issuitable for connection to a tractor of the average horse power. If thepiston be connected to the hole 2 in the lever 28 and the cylinderconnected to the hole 36, this will change the leverage so that themachine can be attached to a tractor of greater horse power and thecapacity of the grading machine increased. The spring 44 will notcompress as easily by this change in leverage because the lever 23 islonger and the leverage of the lever 33 is shorter. This makes itpossible to carry more pressure on the grader blade with-- outcompressing the spring 4-4. If the piston rod 38 is connected to thelowest hole 31 and the cylinder connected to the upper hole 34 of thelever 33 this gives a shorter leverage on the lever 23 and a longerleverage on the lever 33 and, therefore, pressure on the grader blade ismore effective in compressing the spring 44. This adjustment adapts themachine for attachment to a tractor of less horse power.

From the above it will be seen that through this adjustable leverage themachine is very flexible in that it may be attached to a tractor ofaverage horse power or to a tractor having a horse power greater thantheaverage or to a tractor having horse power'of less than the average.

The machine can be readily adjusted for moving soil from one location toanother without any appreciable loss of load. This may be accomplishedby setting the cylindrical connection to the lever 33 up one hole so asto allow the spring to compress easier. After this adjustment then thebucket is loaded to capacity with the spring compressed to its limit. Asthe contour of the ground level over which the machine passes changesthe spring will let the blade float up and down. The pressure of thespring will force the blade down into hollows and the spring willcompress and allow the grader blade to pass over higher elevations. Thisfloating movement of the bucket enables the load to be carried aconsiderable distance without any appreciable spilling. If desired, whencarrying a load from one location to another, the auxiliary frame andauxiliary leveling blade can be disconnected and the ground wheelsshifted to the axial bearings 57 closer to load carrying bucket.

The member 54- telescopes within the member 53 and, as above noted, isheld in a set position by a pin 55 passing through both tubes. Whenthese parts are positioned as shown in Figure 1 then this draft memberis made of minimum length by removing the pins and withdrawing thetelescoping member 54. Three feet can be added to the length or six feetand the pin reinserted for holding the telescoping parts in their setposition.

The compression of the spring 44 may be varied by adjusting the nut 48on the rod 49. Thus it is that the degree of compression of the springmay be varied to provide for attachment to a tractor of light horsepower or for lighter soil.

It is obvious that many changes can be made in the details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spiritof the invention set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A land grading machine comprising a main frame adapted to be attachedto a tractor, ground wheels for supporting said main frame, a graderbucket including a back plate, a grader blade carried thereby andforwardly projecting retaining plates at the ends of said back plate, aspring, devices carried by said main frame and actuated by said springfor supporting and for bodily raising and lowering said bucket as thedraft on the grader blade varies, said devices including hydraulic meansfor raising said bucket for transportation, an auxiliary frame pivotallyconnected to said main frame at the rear end thereof, an auxiliarygrader blade carried by said auxiliary frame, and spring actuated meansfor moving said auxiliary grading blade into operating position, andmeans for connecting said auxiliary frame to the raising means for thebucket so that said auxiliary blade will be raised for transportationwith said bucket.

2. A land grading machine comprising a main frame adapted to be attachedto a tractor, ground wheels for supporting said main frame, a graderbucket including a back plate, a grader blade carried thereby andforwardly projecting retaining plates at the ends of said back plate, ashaft mounted on said frame in front of said bucket, arms rigidlymounted on the shaft and connected to the front ends of the retainingplates of the bucket, links pivoted to lugs carried by the upper end ofsaid back plate, said links being inclined downwardly and connected tosaid main frame, a lever carried by said shaft and hydraulic mechanismfor oscillating said lever for raising the bucket relative to the frameto position the same for transportation, an auxiliary frame carried bysaid main frame at the rear end thereof, an auxiliary grader bladecarried by said auxiliary frame, brackets rigidly mounted on saidauxiliary frame, means connected to the links attached to the back plateof thebucket and to said brackets whereby the raising of the bucket fortransportation will also raise the auxiliary blade.

3. A land grading machine comprising a main frame adapted to be attachedto a tractor, ground wheels for supporting said main frame, a graderbucket including a back plate, a grader blade carried thereby andforwardly projecting retaining plates at the ends of said back plate, ashaft mounted on said main frame, arms rigidly mounted on the shaft,said arms extending downwardly at an inclination and pivotally connectedto the ends of the re taining plates of the bucket, lugs pivotallymounted at the upper end of said back plate, links pivotally connectedto said lugs and extending downwardly at an inclination to the frame andpivotally connected to lugs carried by the frame, a. lever fixed to saidshaft, a second lever pivotally mounted on said main frame, means forconnecting said levers, a spring, and devices for maintaining saidspring under compression, said devices being connected adjacent theupper end of said second named lever.

4. A land grading machine comprising a main frame adapted to be attachedto a tractor, ground wheels for supporting said main frame, a graderbucket including a back plate, a grader blade carried thereby andforwardly projecting retaining plates at the ends of said back plate, ashaft mounted on said main frame, arms rigidly mounted on the shaft,said arms extending downwardly at an inclination and pivotally connectedto the ends of the retaining plates of the bucket, lugs pivotallymounted at the upper end of said back plate, links pivotally connectedto said lugs and extending downwardly at an inclination to the frame andpivotally connected to lugs carried by the frame, a lever fixed to saidshaft, a second lever pivotally mounted on said main frame, means forconnecting said levers, a spring, and devices for maintaining saidspring under compression, said devices being connected adjacent theupper end of said second named lever, said means for connecting saidlevers being shiftable at both ends to ditferent set positions on saidlevers for varying the power necessary for raising and lowering the maingrader blade to conform to the power output of the tractor to which thegrading machine is attached.

5. A land grading machine comprising a main frame adapted to be attachedto a tractor, ground wheels for supporting said main frame, a graderbucket including a back plate, a grader blade carried thereby andforwardly projecting retaining plates at the ends of said back plate, ashaft mounted on said main frame, arms rigidly mounted on the shaft,said arms extending downwardly at an inclination and pivotally connectedto the ends of the retaining plates of the bucket, lugs pivotallymounted at the upper end of said back plate, links pivotally connectedto said lugs and extending downwardly at an inclination to the frame andpivotally connected to lugs carried by the frame, a lever fixed to saidshaft, a second lever pivotally mounted on said main frame, means forconnecting said levers, a spring, and devices for maintaining saidspring under compression, said devices being connected adjacent theupper end of said second named lever, said means connecting the leversincluding a cylinder and hydraulically operated piston for raising thebucket relative to the frame to a position for transportation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,041,387 Waterman Oct. 15, 1912 1,845,324 Noffsinger et al Feb. 16,1932 2,090,117 Gledhill Aug. 17, 1937 2,227,433 Berner Jan. 7, 19412,283,744 Lethlean May 19, 1942 2,317,680 Fitzpatrick Apr. 27, 19432,325,025 Allen July 27, 1943 2,349,130 Allen May 16, 1944 2,372,459Todd Mar. 27, 1945 2,593,880 Heavilin on Apr. 22, 1952

